Aasha Medhi

GenZ won't accept "orders" without a clear "why". They want to make decisions by themselves and have a sense of achievement. Leading by frameworks is the way! Here are the 5 essential components every framework should have: 1. Clear "Why" Every decision has an objective to achieve. If the decision isn’t aiming in that direction, it is probably the wrong call. 2. Constraints Encourage out-of-the-box thinking while providing necessary limits to guide your team. 3. Accessible Data Sources Docs, metrics, spreadsheets, anything that can help them finding information. 4. Examples Share past decisions that followed the framework to help your team navigate new situations 5. Feedback Channel No framework is perfect! Everything requires refinement. Provide a way for feedback. #DecisionMaking #Empowerment #LeadershipSkills #LeadingGenZ

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Top learnings from my discussion with Kishore Gopalakrishna - Language choice for system development should balance team expertise, hiring potential, and ecosystem maturity. A well-implemented system in a familiar language often outperforms a poorly implemented one in a "faster" language. - Distributed systems are complex - they can fail in unexpected ways, making your own computer useless. This challenge is often underestimated. Understand the failure modes. - When building new systems, design for the long-term (10 years) but plan for the near-term (2-3 years). Implement for current needs while keeping the architecture flexible for future growth. Design for long term, plan for short-medium term. - Testing distributed systems requires going beyond known test cases. Develop test frameworks that generate new scenarios automatically to uncover unforeseen issues. - Cost optimization in data systems often involves trade-offs. Kafka, for example, sacrificed transactionality and exact-once delivery for higher throughput and lower cost per log. Its all about the Trade-offs. You get some, you lose some. - When approaching problems, start with first principles. Understand why something is expensive or inefficient before trying to optimize it. Don't jump on a solution. Understand the real problem first. - Open-source success relies heavily on community building. Foster respectful communication, clear processes for resolving conflicts, and a culture of helpfulness to grow a strong contributor base. There are many communities, but only the ones with good culture thrive. - Real-time analytics can significantly boost user engagement. Even small reductions in data latency can lead to measurable improvements in user experience and product value. - When considering real-time analytics, focus on how it can improve your users' lives rather than just technical capabilities. Many support issues can be eliminated by giving users direct access to real-time data. Product isn't useful if it making users' lives better. - Innovation in data products often comes from changing perspective - instead of asking "Do we need this?", ask "How can this improve our users' experience?" This shift can uncover valuable use cases for real-time analytics. Asking the right questions will help you reach the right answers. - When building data products, consider the long-term evolution of technology. Design choices should anticipate future developments, such as improvements in network speed or storage capabilities. Keep your design extensible. - As users become more data-savvy, there's increasing demand for self-serve analytics tools. Empowering users with direct access to data can reduce support overhead and enable more informed decision-making. Empower users to do more with data quickly. ———————————————————————— In case you haven't watched the episode yet, you can watch it here: youtu.be/SmLlJmU9Daw Also subscribe if you like such discussions.

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Had a great time at the Uber Gen AI Meetup in Bangalore! As I'm starting my Gen AI learning journey, it was amazing to see how experts are using AI to solve real problems. Following are some of the highlights from the event: - Jayaram Valliyur set the stage with their welcome and keynote on Uber's advancements in GenAI - Vivasvat Keswani introduced Uber's Michelangelo: Platform to build, deploy, and operate machine learning/ GenAI solutions at Uber’s scale - Sameera Poduri showed us how Uber is using Generative AI to make customer service better. - Varsha Mahadevan from Coinbase discussed the importance of keeping AI safe and secure in applications, focusing on prompt injection and implementing guardrails to prevent misuse. - Lokesh Agarwal from Kognitos discussed how AI could change our future - Pratyush Kumar from Sarvam AI emphasized the importance of using Indian languages in AI, making it more inclusive and also discussed building a full stack GenAI platform - Rush Tehrani from Uber focused on scaling ML infrastructure, deployment and serving of LLMs at Scale - Manyata Goyal and Geeti Oberoi introduced us to Uber’s tool, uLabel, which is Uber's labeling framework / data annotation solution that helps with organising data. - Ayush Garg, Chanakya Malireddy, Radhesh Sarma, and Georgy Mathew brought to light various advanced techniques like RAG-based chatbots, dynamic few-shot prompting, auto evaluation framework, showcasing Uber's leadership in applying AI to solve complex problems. - Smit Shah spoke on extracting actionable insights from LLMs, another testament to the practical uses of AI in business operations. - Ajeet Ganga explained how they're leveraging Gen AI to help manage Uber's workforce better - Panel discussion on "Unlocking the Value of Gen AI" moderated by Sameera Poduri featured Rohit Chatter from Walmart, @Vivasvat Keswani from Uber and Saurabh Dash from Cohere, along with Pratyush Kumar from Sarvam AI, offering diverse perspectives on the integration and impact of AI technologies across various sectors. Grateful to have been part of an event that showcased groundbreaking discussions on Gen AI. Big Shoutout to all the hosts at Uber for organising such a well-coordinated event. Looking forward to more such events! #UberGenAIMeetup #AI #Learning

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𝙂𝘼𝙍𝘽𝘼𝙂𝙀 𝘾𝙊𝙇𝙇𝙀𝘾𝙏𝙄𝙊𝙉 - 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙆𝙖𝙗𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙖! 🛢️ 🧠 𝐉𝐚𝐯𝐚 𝐁𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐭 : Day 1 of #30DaysOfJava Ever called the kabadiwala (scrap dealer) to clean out old newspapers and bottles piling up in your house? Every now and then, we need to get rid of things we don’t use anymore to free up space. In Java, this cleanup process is handled by something called Garbage Collection. Just like the kabadiwala goes around looking for items you don’t need, the Garbage Collector (GC) in Java hunts for objects in memory that aren’t being used by your program anymore. Once it finds them, it clears them out to free up memory, making sure your program runs smoothly without any memory clutter. Now, imagine calling the kabadiwala too frequently; he might start interrupting your routine. Similarly, if the Garbage Collector runs too often, it can slow down your application—a phenomenon called GC overhead. On the flip side, if he comes too late, your home will start overflowing with junk, just like memory issues in Java! 📌 Key Takeaway: Java’s Garbage Collector is like your friendly neighborhood kabadiwala, keeping your memory clean. But timing is everything—clean up too often, and you’ll slow down, wait too long, and you’ll run out of space! #java #oracle

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🚀Hi Folks, I'm Taking on the Product #Teardown_Challenge along with Arindam Goswami! 🚀 As part of an exciting challenge by Product Space, I’m stepping into the role of Senior VP of Product at #Zepto Quick Commerce! Zepto’s already crushing it with 10-minute deliveries across 30 cities in India, but there’s so much more potential to unlock! 💡 Here’s the mission: ➡️ Increase Zepto’s Average Order Value (AOV) to ₹600 🛒 ➡️ Boost product discovery and engagement to encourage bigger, more frequent orders 🔍 ➡️ Elevate the purchase experience to keep customers coming back for more 🔄 And I need YOUR help to make it happen! 🙌 🎯 Your insights on quick commerce platforms like Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart are key to shaping these strategies. I’ve put together a short survey, and your feedback will be crucial in tackling this challenge! 💥 Thanks for your support—let’s crack this together! 🙌 Link to the form - https://lnkd.in/g5v2y4wR #ProductTeardown #QuickCommerce #ProductManagement #ProductSpace

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Ever wonder why some companies can ship software at lightning speeds while others seem stuck in the mud? 🚀⏳ . . . . . . . . . Daksh Gupta of Greptile collected real-world insights from engineers at many of the world's largest tech companies, unpacking the intricacies that either propel or impede the speed of shipping code. The big reveal? Older and larger companies tend to move more slowly because the costs of missteps become greater. In some cases, those costs are fairly non-negotiable (e.g. ensuring software for customers in production remains secure) while in other cases, the costs are more optional and cultural (e.g. wanting a lot of accurate estimates, forcing a manager's vs. maker's schedule, etc). #SoftwareEngineering #Tech #DevelopmentVelocity #Innovation #Productivity

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My team and I were brainstorming the backend architecture of one of our core systems at Zomato. While creating the HLD diagram, we kept adding the most intuitive microservices and their interactions within the mesh. At this stage, we were only thinking in terms of abstract functionalities that these services would offer. Meanwhile, one of the team members proposed why we couldn't combine three (out of N 😛) services and just create one for now. From a bird's-eye view, it felt not so convincing. He explained the rationale by justifying the similarity in functionalities, flows, and data modeling. Trust me, that was not so intuitive when we were putting those three white boxes in the HLD diagram. I still had concerns about the independent scalability of those three pieces and possible challenges due to noisy neighbor issues. We asked ourselves a question: "What business outcomes do we expect from this system?" Ultimately, we got convinced with the suggestion of a merger. Learnings: 1) Technical experience in a business domain matters. Identifying similarity would have been a non-trivial job for someone who had not worked with those systems in the past. 2) Engineering efforts should (also) be traded off against the business outcomes. Engineers working in silos without a business goal generally end up overengineering the system. 3) For leads, leverage the technical expertise of your team members. Avoid being an expert in every aspect. #engineering #architecture #business #datamodeling #backend

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Good read

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Why closures are able to hold the values even after getting returned? A good article I found from Amandeep Singh explains this in detail. It's pretty crisp and clear! Especially check example 2 and it's explanation. https://lnkd.in/ggcsPH8i #frontend #JS #closures #languageinternals

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I am not someone who usually gets so many views on my blog posts. Thank you for this. And I know that most the views are because of the big names (Atlassian, Stripe). My other blogs are from my practical knowledge that got me here. Please go through them also 😋. Adding some links in comments This week, I'll be sharing more interview experiences and how I prepared in past 6 months. That will not be the "best resource" to follow, but atleast what worked for me :) #interview_experiences #tech #hiring

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I see signs of legacy teaching approach everywhere. Small details which are hiding the devil of an obsolete philosophy, supposed to leave years and years ago. Something that tells me, how deep the roots of frustration and low teaching efficiency. One of such details is the "course duration" notion. You don't need to be a prophet to say, that learning will take different time for different people. Some people like skipping sections they think they already know, some would carefully take notes and thoroughly refactor each piece to achieve their perfectionist goals. Some might argue that "course duration" is necessary to give learners a sense of how long an activity will take. And this is absolutely valid point. After all, we can measure the length of videos or the number of words to estimate this. But I see this as a paradox that needs resolution. On one hand, introducing "course duration" seems to focus on the learner's needs, yet it overlooks the subjective nature of learning - and the broader goals of the business. "Course duration" can become something, that is trying to tell you, how long you should learn. And nobody knows, what do they mean, if it will take more time for you. "Course duration" is also not something business really interested in, because the final goal in learning is not to spend exact time of hours there, but achieve some level of productivity. In this small detail I can see discrepancy with common sense. The great "five why's" technique would be probably useful there, and questions should have been asked, "Why do we want to have course duration?" It concerns me a lot, because nothing requires consistent and reasonable discourse as much as teaching and learning. Only being ordered in its reasoning, knowledge can be instilled. We need the practice of reasonable steps. #learning #courses #lms

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𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗺𝗶𝗱 𝗣𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗼𝗳𝗳𝘀 With all the negative news and the potential #layoffs, it is more important than ever to focus on #mentalhealth. Shashi Jain this post is in response to your question. Here are some valuable resources to help maintain mental well-being during these challenging times: 1. 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗿: This app offers lots of free meditations. I have a few available here. https://lnkd.in/gbgwsJh 2. 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿: GGIA Berkeley provides numerous evidence-based practices, including nature walks, that can help improve mental health. https://ggia.berkeley.edu/ 3. 𝗬𝗼𝗴𝗮: There are both free and paid resources for Yoga. Paid ones like Habuild https://habuild.in/ or others can offer structured programs, but there are also many free options available online. Additionally, here are some more resources to explore: 1. Headspace: A popular meditation app offering a variety of guided sessions for stress relief, sleep improvement, and mindfulness. Free for Intel employees 2. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR): Look for local or online MBSR programs, which teach mindfulness practices to reduce stress and improve mental health. 3. Exercise and Physical Activity: Regular physical activity is known to boost mood and reduce anxiety. Even a simple daily walk can make a significant difference. Walk with your dog or a friends. 4. Community Support: Engage with community groups or online forums where you can share experiences and support each other. Please prioritize your mental health and support each other through these uncertain times. If anyone needs to talk or seeks guidance, feel free to DM me. #MentalHealth #Support #Wellbeing #Meditation #Yoga #Intel

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A super clear, straight forward example of how to do cost effective RAG using LangChain for your document pipeline and Groq for compute resources. The code demonstrates how to speed up RAG and reduce costs using quantized embeddings (reducing 32 bit values to 8) Nice job Sahibpreet Singh! https://lnkd.in/gf5QMCKK

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How do you build infra successfully at a startup? 1. Build something quick and functional, but inefficient and unreliable 2. Prove that people care that your product is expensive and unreliable 3. Optimize Checkout this awesome blog by one of my closest collaborators at Statsig, Tore H., on how we got Statsig up and running successfully.

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Our Kumo.AI blog post on Hybrid GNNs is out. https://lnkd.in/gpzr8TiF We have seen success with our Hybrid GNNs across several marketplace problems. Hybrid GNNs are a novel innovation at Kumo.AI because they model both repeated and explorative user interactions within a single GNN framework. The GNN automatically infers whether a user tends to do repeat purchases or tends to be more exploratory (ie buying new unseen items) and learns a repetition scalar per user. What we love about this approach is that it takes away from the standard recommendation systems architecture where you have multiple candidate generators - some for new unseen items, some for repeat behavior and then have to combine them in a final multi-objective optimization framework. Such systems which are a combination of multiple systems are hard to maintain, re-train and operationalize. On the Kaggle H&M challenge where most winning teams usually have approaches that require large amounts of feature engineering and the final system is a complex ensemble of approaches needing months to build, the Kumo.AI approach which is a 3 line predictive query that runs a Hybrid GNN under the hood is top 1%. Thanks Matthias Fey and Weihua Hu for the algorithms and innovation.

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The other day, I was driving to work running late for a meeting. As I was approaching the intersection, the traffic light turned Orange, torn between speeding up or slowing down. Later that day driving back I started thinking how we all encounter similar dilemmas in life—those crucial moments where we must choose to push forward or pause with very little time. These "Orange Light" moments are more than just about being on time; they serve as metaphors for our mindset during times of uncertainty. We're constantly navigating such situations, deciding whether to accelerate with ambition or exercise caution by slowing down. The real challenge lies in figuring out the appropriate response for each situation. Not every orange light requires speed; sometimes, slowing down enables better decisions, prevents missteps, and helps discover new opportunities that we might otherwise overlook. Life presents us with countless orange lights, and mastering when to accelerate and when to decelerate is a crucial life skill. These choices shape our life journey, both personally and professionally. How do you approach life's "Orange Lights"? Do you lean towards speeding up or taking a more cautious approach? Share your thoughts and experiences below! If you like the content, Please give me a 👍 and Follow Me for more. #Mindset #DecisionMaking #PersonalGrowth #Leadership #LifeMetaphor #ProfessionalDevelopment #EngageWithMe #Motivation #Future

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We were cribbing about long and lengthy meetings which don't lead anywhere.. then my manager shared this with me. Following is an extract from the "This Simple Sabotage Field Manual- Strategic Services (Provisional)" OSS then later became CIA. Ref: https://lnkd.in/giZYD2jm General Interference with Organizations and Production (a) Organizations and Conferences (1) Insist on doing everything through "channels." Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions. (~) ,Make "speeches," Talk as frequently as possible and at great length., Illustrate your points.. by long anecdotes and accounts of per- sonal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate patriotic comments, (~) When possible, refer all matters to committees, for further study and consideration. Attempt to make the committees as large as possible - never less than five. (1) Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible. (§) Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions. (Q) ReCert back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision, CD Advocate "caution." Be ureasonable and urge your fellow-conferees to be "reasonable" and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on. (!!) Be worried about the propriety oCany decision - raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated Hes within the jurisdiction of the group whether it might conflict with the policy of some higher echelon.

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⏱ Urgent: Help Us Prevent the Next Nirbhaya - Revolutionary Wearable Safety Device Needs Your Expertise ⌚ In a world where Nirbhaya and Kolkata case are not just names but grim reminders of our failure to protect, we need more than outrage – we need innovation. I'm proposing a smart wearable device designed to prevent and respond to incidents of sexual violence. But to transform this idea from concept to life-saving technology, we urgently need the expertise of the wearable tech industry. Together, we can create a silent guardian for potential victims. 📳 The Concept: A Life-Saving Wearable Device 📳 Our vision is to develop a smartwatch-like device that acts as a personal guardian. Here's how it would work: 1.Continuous Monitoring: The device constantly tracks the wearer's heart/pulse rate. 2.Distress Detection: Sudden spikes or unusual patterns in heart rate, potentially indicating distress or danger, trigger the device. 3.Immediate Alert: Upon detecting a potential emergency, the device vibrates strongly. This serves as both an alert to the wearer and a potential deterrent to an attacker. 4.User Verification: The wearer can quickly deactivate the alert using their fingerprint. This feature ensures that accidental activations don't lead to unnecessary alerts. 5.Emergency Protocol Activation: If the vibration isn't stopped within a set time (adjustable in settings), the device assumes the wearer is unable to respond. This triggers the emergency alert protocol. 6. Network Alert System: A dedicated app receives the alert and notifies: a) Pre-set emergency contacts b) Other app users within a certain radius This creates a network of potential immediate responders. 7.Location Sharing: The alert includes the wearer's real-time location. Responders can quickly locate and assist the person in distress. ❗ Call to Action ❗ We need your help to make this device a reality. Every day we delay, we risk another Nirbhaya, another Kolkata incident. Your expertise, resources, and innovation could be the key to preventing the next tragedy. This isn't just about developing new technology – it's about creating a safer world for our mothers, sisters, daughters, and every individual who deserves to live without fear. Why Your Company? Your expertise in creating user-friendly, affordable wearables is crucial. Together, we can develop a product that not only showcases innovation but saves lives. I'm reaching out to leaders in wearable tech. Whether you're boAt Lifestyle,  Noise, Fastrack Technology, Xiaomi India, Samsung Electronics, Apple, Google, Garmin, Fitbit (now part of Google) , or any other innovator in this space – your contribution could be invaluable. Let's not wait for the next headline to spur us into action. Let's collaborate to build a safer India, a safer world..PLEASE HELP #NoMoreNirbhaya #TechForSafety #PreventNotReact #SafetyInnovation #TimeForChange Aman Gupta Amit Khatri Gaurav Khatri Manu Kumar Jain Sundar Pichai

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The scale we deal with, the complexity it brings in and the impact we create for millions of customers across the globe, are defining moments for our teams at Amazon India. Every day, our tech teams invent and deliver things that were never thought as possible! #HearFromBuilders at Amazon on how they solve real-world problems with technology. #NationalTechDay #ItsStillDay1 #AmazonIndia #TechAtAmazon

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